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In December 2012, the New York-based Greek yogurt company began making yogurt at it’s new manufacturing facility in Twin Falls, Idaho.The company announced in 2011 plans to build it’s second U.S. manufacturing plant. Chobani chose Twin Falls. The company has said it plans to hire up to 500 people once the facility starts operating at full capacity.Hamdi Ulukaya founded the Chobani Greek Yogurt company in 2005. According to Chobani’s website, Ulukaya threw himself into the yogurt business after he saw an ad for a recently shuttered Kraft yogurt plant in his local newspaper. He purchased that facility.By 2007, Chobani Greek Yogurt could be found in New York grocery stores. By 2010, it became the number one selling Greek yogurt in the country.

Idaho Yogurt Manufacturer Chobani Suing Alex Jones

Greek yogurt titan Chobani is suing Alex Jones and his InfoWars website for defamation. The yogurt maker claims a video and Tweets from Jones falsely links the company to a sexual assault case involving three young refugees in Twin Falls.

Three minors pleaded guilty earlier this month to assaulting a 5-year-old girl at an apartment complex in the city. When the incident took place last year, rightwing media picked up the story, exaggerating or misreporting details such as saying the three boys were from Syria.

On his InfoWars website and Youtube channel, both rife with conspiracy theories, Jones asserts Chobani is “importing migrant rapists.” The site also repeats unsubstantiated claims that since Chobani's arrival in Twin Falls in 2012, crime and cases of tuberculosis have risen. The company built a $450 million yogurt manufacturing plant in city that is the largest of its kind in the world.

Following the announcement of the suit, Jones uploaded a video to his Youtube channel saying Chobani is “Islamist owned” and that the company’s Turkish founder infiltrated the U.S.

Chobani is seeking at least $10,000 in damages and wants InfoWars to acknowledge its falsehoods.

For more local news, follow the KBSX newsroom on Twitter @KBSX915

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